Light To Darkness
by OtakuZaku
Summary: A replica named Xenus who's been living as the hero Sora has just learned of his true identity. Determined to find out his origin and purpose, Xenus will travel the various Disney and Square Enix worlds to find the one person who knows who he is...
1. A word from the author

Hi readers, I'm Otaku Zaku and this is my KH fanfic based on my original character, Xenus. Xenus is a replica, complete with false memories, who spent the first several days of his life thinking that he was Sora. Along his journey of finding his own identity he meets familiar faces such as Riku, Aqua, Yen Sid, and Mickey, as well as new ones including Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Jose Carioca, Panchito Pistoles, and Mickey's old rival Mortimer Mouse. Worlds old and new are featured including new Square Enix , Pixar, and even Studio Gibli (dubbed and distributed by Disney) inspired worlds. This is Kingdom Hearts the way it should be.

If any of you out there have any Disney, Pixar, or Square Enix characters you want to see please feel free to review. And if you have a KH fanfic

as well, I may even add a homage to your own OC's or elements. I can't wait to hear from you!


	2. Sora and Company

_In the world that would never again see the light of day, the building that was formally known as Castle Oblivion stood tall and alone. Several yards from the castle doors was a figure dressed in black hooded robes. He pulled back his hood to reveal his long spiky green hair. He was a young man, about nineteen and he stared up at the top of the building._

"Light and darkness...darkness and light. What evils does the power of darkness hold and what good does the power of light possess. Is light really pure good and is darkness truly pure evil? I may finally learn the answer in this Castle of Oblivion. The answer to the true powers of darkness and light..."

He put his hood back over his head and marched purposefully to the castle doors. He placed a hand on either door and slowly pushed them open. As he did, thick black and purple smoke slipped out from inside. It floated into the air and disappeared into the sky. As it did, the smoke seemed to come together to form the words...  
**  
~Kingdom Hearts 2 1/2~**

  
**Chapter 1**

**Traverse Town**

"Hey you... Get yer ass up..."

Sora felt like he was being poked with a stick. He wearily lifted his  
head off the ground and got to his knees. He looked around and noticed  
where he was, but it was impossible. After he got up, he saw who had  
woken him up: it was an old man with spiky blond hair. The man was  
smoking a cigar and holding a long pole. Sora's eyes lit up.

"Cid!"

Cid blew smoke into the air and stood his spear upright.

"The hell you doin' layin' in the streets? Ain't you supposed to be  
on some island with Cari or whatever that girl's name is?"

"Her name's Kairi, and..."

Sora was about to say what had happened but he wasn't even sure. Last  
he remembered, he was on Destiny Island with his friends Kairi and  
Riku...but now he was waking up after being unconscious in a world  
that wasn't supposed to exist anymore. Cid shrugged and started off.

"Whatever, we all have crazy crap goin' on. Come on, we best be  
getting to Leon and the others. Their here too..."

Sora gasped and ran after him. They walked down the streets of  
Traverse Town until they came to a familiar house. Cid opened the door  
and let Sora in. Right away, he saw several familiar faces. Sitting at  
a computer were Yuffie and Tifa. Aeris stood by a counter and Leon was  
leaning against a wall. As soon as Sora entered, Yuffie jumped up from  
the desk, pulled out her shurikan, and lunged at Sora who drew his  
keyblade and guarded against her attack just in time. Yuffie smiled.

"Hey Sora!", she said, looking as cheery and energetic as ever.

Sora smiled weakly. "Hey, Yuffie."

Leon shook his head and walked over.  
"At least you haven't lost it yet. Welcome back, Sora."

Sora pulled back his weapon and smiled.

"Great to see you all too! But...why are you all here? Shouldn't you  
all be in Hollow Bastion?"

"That's Radiant Garden...", Tifa stood up, looking serious. "And we  
would like to know too."

Aeris closed her eyes and was silent for a moment.

"I can hear them anymore... The world's life-force. They are all  
crying in pain..."

"What are you taking about?" Sora looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Aeris can listen to the life-force of worlds. That's one of the many  
powers of the Ancients." said Tifa, still looking serious.

"So they're all...dying...?" asked Sora weakly.

That would obviously explain why Traverse Town was there again.

"We don't know fer sure. Just 'cause Radiant Garden's gone and now  
maybe your island don't mean a thing." said Cid.

"But Aeris just said she can here them! The worlds just cant be at peace yet."  
Yuffie was getting frantic."

Sora looked puzzle, and then he snapped his fingers.

"Maleficent...and the Heartless. Remember when the Heartless were  
destroying the worlds by crawling through the keyholes?"

Leon nodded, "It all makes sense...well, you know what to do."

"Yeah! Except...I don't have a Gummi Ship...", he looked down and sighed.

Just then there was a puff of blue smoke and Merlin the wizard  
appeared in the middle of the room.

"You're not going to let something like that stop you, are you lad?"

"The hell you want, ya old coot?", Cid snapped.

"My word, I was only going to offer young Sora my assistance..."

He turned to Sora and looked at him.

"You're ship is not the only way to travel from world to world. Unless  
you've forgotten, I am the one responsible for bringing Scrooge McDuck  
to Radiant Garden and I once brought you to Disney Castle, as I plan  
to do now.", Merlin smiled as he said this.

"You can bring me from world to world?", Sora's heart was filling with hope.

"Heavens no, not from world to world but I can reunite you with some  
old friends who can."

Leon placed a hand on Sora's shoulder.

"Take care of yourself, and make sure you bring our world back...", he  
said sternly.

Sora nodded, "I will..."

He looked up at Merlin and without a word they disappeared with a puff  
of smoke and headed for their next destination.

**Disney Town**

Merlin and Sora reappeared in the square of a town. The buildings were  
all cute and colorful and there were brightly colored streamers  
hanging from the old fashioned lamp posts. Sora looked a bit confused.

"Um...Merlin? I though you were going to bring me somewhere familiar.  
What is this place...?"

"Oh dear, I must have missed my mark... We are still in the right  
world, at least. Sora, I know you can find your way to where you need  
to go. I hate to leave you here but I need to get back to the Fairy  
Godmother."

"No problem, Merlin. I'll find my way.", Sora said, "Thanks!"

Merlin was gone with a poof and Sora started away. He started looking  
around the town. There was an ice cream shop with a weird looking  
cannon-like machine standing outside of it.

I wonder what this is for..., thought Sora.

He never found out though because he heard a high-pitched scream .  
Instinctively he drew his keyblade from out of nowhere and followed  
it. When he got there, he saw a tall rat standing over Huey, Dewy, and  
Louie. He was wearing a belted outfit with lots of zippers very  
similar to the King's and Pete's. It appeared that Donald's nephews  
were guarding a large gate.

Huey got up, "There's no way we are letting you into the castle!"

The rat laughed, "This here castle was should belong to me: the  
rightful king of Disney Town, Mortimer Mouse!"

"More like 'Mortimer Rat'!"

Sora skidded in front of the triplets with his keyblade bared.

Mortimer glared at him, "I know who you are. Petey told me everything  
about you...Keyblade Master!"

He pulled his weapon out of nowhere. It looked like one of Donald's  
staffs with the blade of a sword.

"I'll do Lady Maleficent a favor and get rid of you here. And then,  
Mickey-the-Rat and his little castle are mine!", he bared his weapon  
and charged.

Mortimer started the battle off by casting a barrier around himself.  
Sora bombarded him with attacks in attempt to shatter his barrier.

Mortimer sent Sora flying with his staff-blade and shot several fire balls at him. Sora used Aerial Recovery to get himself on his feet and Quick Run to dodge the fire balls. Once Sora had gotten far enough, Mortimer cast Thunder in attempt to hit him. Sora closed it on Mortimer, dodged the lighting bolts, and delivered several blows with his keyblade and a finishing move, shattering the barrier. Mortimer's eyes widened and he jumped back before Sora could strike him again.

"That's enough for now. Pete warned me about the keyblade wielder. Mark my words, you haven't seen the last of Mortimer Mouse! Hacha-cha!", Mortimer pushed past Sora and bolted away.

Sora ran to Huey, Dewy, and Louie, "Are you guys okay? Who the heck was that?"

"Sora! Are we glad you came along! That guy was Mortimer.", said Huey.

"He's been trying to steal the throne from the King for ages.", said Dewy.

"We saw him at the gates and just knew he was after the castle and the Queen!", said Louie.

Sora shook his head, "I won't let that guy anywhere near the the castle. So, did you say that the King was gone?"

"Yeah", said Huey,"his majesty left Disney Town because he said the worlds were going kaploowee again!"

"Maybe you should go check on the Queen.", said Louie.

Sora nodded, "Yeah, I will"

He waved and ran through the gate. Inside the castle, he saw Donald and Goofy guarding the entrance to the throne room.

"Guys!", he smiled and ran up to them. The three laughed and hugged.

"Her majesty went down to check on the Cornerstone of Light and left us to to guard the throne room.", said Goofy proudly.

"Sshh!," whispered Donald, "I hear the Queen coming!"

A smaller door in the middle of the taller one opened and Queen Minnie walked through. She smiled when she saw Sora.

"Oh Sora, thank goodness you are here. Mickey left the castle a few days ago saying that the darkness was spreading again and it was his duty as a Keyblade Master to take a look at it. Would you please be so kind as to help him?"

He nodded, "Of course, your majesty. That's sorta why I'm here."

Donald and Goofy smiled and nodded behind Minnie's back and Sora got the hint.

"Um...your majesty?", he began to ask, "May I borrow Donald and Goofy?"

"He can't do anything without us.", Donald laughed.

"Of course they can, Sora. There haven't been any Heartless in Disney Town yet, and I'm sure we will be fine without Donald and Goofy for now. Now boys, behave yourselves."

"What are ya talking about? We are always behaved!", Donald shouted.

Everyone laughed and Sora and Goofy dragged Donald away.

**Gummi Ship **

After picking it up in the hanger, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were piloting the Gummi Ship through space heading to their first destination.

Sora was excited, "Think we're going to see any new worlds?"

"Probably", said Donald, "the King says that the universe is infinite. Who knows where that darkness has gone this time?"

The ship eventually approached a world unlike any that Sora had ever seen before: tall grey rectangular buildings were coming out of the ground.

"Looks like this is our stop guys.", said Sora, "Let's go."

**Big Apple **

As soon as the three landed in the new world, Sora was taken in by all of the sites. The skyscrapers, the paved streets, the lights, the cars. He stared at everything in awe.

Donald looked at him oddly, "Hello? Sora?"

Goofy walked up to them from behind. "Donald, Sora's probably never seen any big cities on his little island."

"You're right", said Sora still staring at it all, "I've never seen anything like it..."

Finally he looked back at Donald and Goofy and gasped. Donald had a grey pigeon-like body and Goofy had a thin black dog body and right now looked a lot like the King's dog, Pluto. He then looked at himself to see he had become a brown tabby kitten. He jumped back, obviously startled. Goofy and Donald burst out laughing.

"Garwsh, you look like the Queen's pet kitty cat!", said Goofy.

"Too bad Kairi isn't here!", laughed Donald.

Sora glared, "Be quiet! You two don't look any better."

_Wow.._ he though, _This is a lot like when we went to the Pride Lands.._.

He turned back to them and smiled.

"Sorry guys. Hey, let's take a look around this place!"

They both smiled back, "That's what you wanted to do from the very beginning, ain't it?", Goofy laughed.

They all ran into the streets of the big city. Just then they heard a loud meowing and a crash. They went closer to the noise to see a small orange kitten was being chased by a large overweight man. They were running circles around a hotdog stand and the man was throwing crates at the cat.

"You filthy cat! Getta away from my hotdogs!"

Sora hissed and his keyblade appeared in his mouth.

"We gotta save that kid. He's so much smaller than that fat guy!"

Goofy grabbed Sora's tail in his mouth as Sora started running.

"Sora!", he said, "That cat is tryin' to steal those hotdogs though. He's a thief."

"Yeah, Sora. We are heroes. Heroes don't help thieves.", said Donald.

"Heroes also protect people who are weaker than they are.", Sora looked back at them with narrow eyes, "Don't do anything if you want. I'm going to help."

Sora pulled away from Goofy and charged at the fat man. He hit him with the keyblade and the guy drew his attention away from the cat and onto Sora.

"So you gotta friends with you you stupid cat? No one getsa Tony's hotdogs for free!"

He was about to drop a large crate directly onto Sora when a medium-sized brown and white dog knocked the man over and turned to Sora and the other cat. He wore a red bandana around his neck and had a confident expression on his face.

"Hey cats", he said, "You picked the wrong guy to steal hotdogs from. How about you help me to liberate those nice hot weenies, and maybe together we can convince old Tony to share?"

Sora glanced from the dog to the cat. The cat nodded, "Yeah, I'm there!"

The three charged at the fat man and knocked him over. The dog grabbed a string of hotdogs and ran off. Sora looked up and didn't see the cat anywhere.

"He got away.", sighed Sora, "That's good..."

"Sora! Behind you!"

The fat man had gotten up and was about to bring a broom down on Sora's head. Goofy jumped in front of Sora with his shield attached to a collar around his neck like a giant license tag.

Next, Donald flew over the man and whacked him over the head with his staff.

"Sorry we didn't follow you, Sora.", Donald looked sad, "You were right."

"Don't worry about it", said Sora as he hit the guy one last time, "Just help me get all of us out of here alive!"

All three of them past by Tony, and both Goofy and Sora were sure to jump on his head as they ran past. Finally they ended up far away from the hotdog stand and found themselves in an empty construction zone.

Goofy looked ahead. "Hey, Sora! It's those two from the hotdog stand!"

A little ways ahead, the small orange cat was chasing after the dog. He had the hotdog string wrapped around his neck and was smirking back at the cat. The cat ran after him angrily.

"Me and that other cat helped you get those. Give some to me; that's not fair!"

The dog laughed, "Fair's for tourists, kid.", and he ran off.

The kitten glared at him and ran after him. Suddenly, several large fat blue dog-like creatures and a larger green one with spirals on their eyes and spiked collars around where their necks would have been appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the two. Sora knew what they were: Mad Dog Heartless. He jumped passed the Heartless and stood in front of the cat with his keyblade clenched between his teeth. To his surprise, the dog with the hotdogs did the same.

"You guys picked the wrong dog to mess with. This's what happens when you cross paths with Dodger!"

He lunged at the Heartless, grabbed them with his mouth and threw them so they crashed on the ground. Sora ran at them with the keyblade and quickly vanquished them. More and more kept coming but Dodger and Sora quickly teamed up to take them all out. When there was finally only one left with an inch of HP, the orange kitten gave it a final scratch, eliminating it.

Dodger looked at the two and smiled, "Look at that. We make a good team. What are your names?"

"I'm Sora", said Sora, "And these two are Donald and Goofy."

"My name's Oliver.", said the kitten smiling up and Dodger.

Dodger straightened up and started off.

"Well nice working with you but the dynamic trio is now the dynamic UNO."

Oliver's smile turned into a scowl, "You're wrong! Get back here!"

"Yeah!", said Goofy, "Me and Donald make five, so that's a...a quin...to?"

Donald was getting angry, "Who cares what a group of five is called? Let's get 'em!"

The four of them chased after Dodger but eventually the over-confident canine had lost them. Goofy got in touch with his new form's abilities by taking the lead and starting to follow Dodger's scent. It Was becoming dark. Finally they reached a house near the edge of a vacant harbor.

"Garsh", exclaimed Goofy, "I wonder if this is were that Dodger feller lives."

"We just gotta check it out.", said Oliver, continuing forward.

Just then, a fancy black car zoomed down the pier and nearly ran over Sora and company. The car stopped right at the house and two large dobermans jumped out of the car, went into the house, and forced a skinny man out in front of the car. The man was filthy and looked like he hadn't bathed or changed his clothes for a while. He was trembling as he faced whoever was in the car. Sora couldn't see whoever was in the car for the windows were all black, but he did see that the two dobermans were going into the house.

"Guys", whispered Sora, "Let's get into that house..."

Donald, Goofy, and Oliver hesitantly followed Sora passed the car and into the house. Inside, Dodger was standing in front of two other dogs and glaring at the two dobermans who were circling the single room of the house.

"Looks like Dodger is still working for that filthy homeless bum, Fagin. Let's see how long Sykes is gonna let y'all live!"

Dodger continued to glare at them, teeth bared.

"What happened to your sense of humor, Roscoe?"

Roscoe looked back at a television that somebody was obviously watching before they came in. He kicked it and it smashed into a wall sending sparks everywhere.

He smirked, "See that? I find that funny..."

"Yeah? How funny is this?", Donald drew his staff and hit Roscoe with a fire ball.

Everyone now knew that Sora and the gang were here. The dobermans growled and lunged at the four of them but Dodger attacked them. Sora drew his keyblade and Goofy his shield and they both joined in the fight.

It was a real messy battle. Furniture and other household stuff got knocked over and smashed as they all fought. Finally both dogs were down but only after Roscoe was limping after Sora bombarded his leg with the keyblade and Oliver left deep red scratches in the other dobermans nose. Finally there was a loud honk from outside.

Dodger looked up at the two dobermans and smirked, "Oh Roscoe, DeSoto, your master is calling..."

They both got up and headed for the door.

Roscoe snorted, "This ain't over, Dodger. You're giving us that money, even if it's over you filthy masters dead body..."

The dobermans left and the skinny man who was apparently Fagin came into the room, looking worn out and depressed.

"Three days...how am I going to get that money to Sykes in three days...?"

He sat down and his three dogs walked over to him looking sat. Fagin looked back at the dogs and his eyes fell on the hotdog string around Dodger's neck and smiled. He threw his arms around the dogs and hugged them.

"Who needs Sykes when I have you guys. You are my family and as long as I have you I'm the richest man alive!"

The dogs were all delighted and jumped on top of their master. Oliver watched them with envy. Finally they all stopped and Fagin noticed Oliver.

He smiled and picked the cat up, "Did you do that to DeSoto's nose? That's wonderful. That's great. From now on, you are one of us!"

Oliver's eyes lit up and they all hugged each other. Sora, Donald, and Goofy watched from the corner.

Sora smiled, "Looks like Oliver's made a few friends."

"Yeah, but we totally went out of our way for them.", Donald sighed.

"I don't know, Donald", said Goofy, "I think that as long as Sora is helping folks with his keyblade, he's protecting the light wherever he goes. We gotta learn to trust in Sora, no matter what he thinks is right."

They both nodded before the three of them left into the night.


	3. Panchito and Jose

Realm of Darkness

It had been a while since Aqua had seen DiZ. There really wasn't much to do at the Dark Meridian and Aqua had dozed off. Now DiZ, the only other person besides herself had disappeared and left her all alone there.

'I wonder how he escaped', thought Aqua.

She walked further along the shore when a dark sinister looking portal appeared in front of her. She drew her keyblade, ready to fight whatever was about to jump out and attack her until a thin yellow dog jumped out from the dark portal and faced her. The dog smiled and looked up at her panting with his tongue out. He barked and ran back towards the portal, apparently beckoning her in. At first she thought she should refuse all together but then decided that going into that portal was probably better than staying there. Not to mention, the dog seemed familiar; like she had seen him before. She followed the dog into the portal and it closed behind her.

"Where are we...?", Aqua asked looking around her.

Of course she didn't expect the dog to answer her. Everything was pitch black yet she could see herself and the dog as if they were in daylight. Suddenly several small black creatures with round yellow eyes appeared and surrounded the two menacingly.

Aqua's keyblade automatically appeared in her hand and she gritted her teeth looking them all over, "Unversed...no, their coloration is wrong. Whatever they are, they aren't good..."

Aqua quickly vanquished them all but seconds later, even more showed up, and even larger ones at that.

Aqua clenched her teeth, "There are too many of them..."

The dog was standing a foot away from one of the creatures, growling at it and staring at it intimidatingly. The creature moved suddenly and the dog jumped back, frightened, and hid behind Aqua. Just as all the creatures were about to close in on the two, a figure dressed in black jumped out of nowhere, seemingly vanished for a split second, then reappeared in another location, tearing through the creatures one by one. Finally he stood facing Aqua and the dog and took off his hood, revealing a young looking face, narrow eyes, and shoulder length white hair. The dog looked happy to see him and ran over to him.

Aqua gasped as she looked at his face. 'He looks like...No, he can't be'.

The young man bent over and patted the dog, "Good job, Pluto. Let's get you home now."

He then looked up at Aqua and nodded, "I see you have a keyblade. And it looks like Pluto trusts you. My name is Riku."

Aqua straightened up and tried to look a bit more serious, "I am Master Aqua, former student of Master Eraqus. Thank you for helping me get rid of those black creatures. Were those Unversed?"

Riku smirked; something he hadn't done in a while, "Master Aqua? You expect me to believe that you are a master after that performance? And those creatures are called Heartless. Guess you've yet to kill enough of them to call yourself a Master."

Aqua's eyes narrowed, "I was trapped in the Realm of Darkness forever. I've clearly lost a lot of power."

"Yeah, sure", Riku snorted, "Come on, we gotta get you out of here. The darkness will slowing harm you if you're not wearing one of these coats." Riku pinched the fabric of his hooded robe.

A Corridor of Darkness opened behind them and Riku turned to it. Before walking through it, he turned to Aqua and held out his hand. Aqua hesitated for a second and then grabbed his hand. Riku pulled her through and the portal started to closed. Pluto wagged his tail and leaped through just as the Corridor shut.

?

On the other side of the Corridor Riku, Aqua, and Pluto found themselves in the middle of a vast dessert complete with sand, cacti, and rocks. Just then, several dark cretures appeared.

Aqua turned to Riku. "Heartless?", she asked without really needing the answer.

"Yes.", Riku nodded, "And extremely weak ones at that. Let's get rid of them before meeting up with my comrade."

They both drew their keyblades and ran at the Heartless. Riku was right; they were weak and went down in one hit. More and more were always up ahead but the two keyblade wielders kept slicing through them. Eventually they passed some dunes and saw an odd site: two brightly colored birds in peculiar outfits were standing back to back fighting off the Heartless. One bird was green, wore a dress suit, and was fending them off with an umbrella. The other was red, dressed in a cowboy outfit with a giant sombrero and he was fighting with pistols. Aqua jumped in and helped them with the rest. After the Heartless were all gone, the green bird ran up to Aqua and shook her hand.

"Gracias, Seniorita. Those creatures came out of nowhere. My name is Jose Carioca, but you may call me Joe."

He attempted to kiss Aqua's hand when the other bird pushed him out of the way and shook her hand as well. "And I am Panchito Romero Miguel Junipero Francisco Quintero González III, but just for you, Seniorita, you may call me Panchito."

Riku and Pluto approached them. Just as they noticed the dog, Panchito and Jose leaped in surprise.

"Ai curemba!", shouted Panchito, "It's Pluto!"

"You two know Pluto?", Riku looked at them surprised.

"Si, Senior.", said Jose, "That dog belongs to none other than Senior Mickey. You see...we are world travelers too."

"That's right!", said Panchito, "We used our magic sarape to bring us from Disney Town to this world. That way Mickey could be a rey and without disturbing the town, we could continue to be..."

They both put on sombreros and pulled guitars out of nowhere before breaking into dance. "The Three Cabelleros!", they sung in unison.

Aqua looked at them oddly, "Um...but why are there only two of you?"

They both stopped dancing and looked down and sighed.

"One of our amigos went missing.", said Jose sadly.

"And we were about to go look for him when these creatures came out of nowhere.", said Panchito.

Pluto walked over to the two and wagged his tail smiling.

Aqua also smiled, "Don't worry. We will help you find you friend."

Riku nodded, "It's not part of my mission, but I know what it's like to lose a friend."

Riku and Pluto started forward but Aqua could sense something.

She drew her keyblade and held her arm out in front of Riku, "Stop!"

Suddenly the ground started shaking and a giant Heartless sprung up from the sand. The huge creature's thick skin was dark green and covered in sharp spikes like the cacti around it. Panchito and Jose drew their weapons.

"If they insist on helping us than as long as we're together, we will fight alongside our amigos!", said Panchito bravely.

"Si, you're right!", said Jose baring his umbrella defensively.

Riku and Aqua drew their keyblades and charged at the Heartless. The giant heartless swatted it's thorn covered arms at the four as they came near. Jose used his open umbrella like a shield deflected the creatures blow. Dark purple liquid oozed from where the thorns had struck the umbrella.

"Be careful, comrades.", warned Jose, "Those thorns are poisonous! We do not want to be touching them."

Aqua nodded and jumped far back. She shot several fire balls from her keyblade that hit the Heartless from afar. Panchito jumped back next to her and bombarded the Heartless with shots from his pistols. The giant Heartless roared and shot thorns from it's body toward Aqua and Panchito. Riku jumped in front of them and created a Dark Shield to deflect the poison missiles.

"Doesn't look like attacking it from a distance is much safer.", Riku was gritting his teeth, "Let's just kill it quickly."

He jumped to the other side of the Heartless and threw his keyblade like a boomerang towards the creature. Aqua threw hers too. The two keyblades sliced through the Heartless at both sides and after a few seconds, the creature exploded in a burst of light. A single large crystalline heart floated from the explosion and into the sky. Panchito and Jose started salsa dancing and Riku gave Aqua's hand a firm squeeze and nodded. Aqua was about to say something when the ground started shaking again. No giant Heartless came this time, but the ground split wide open and a huge crack in the world formed. Aqua and Jose were thrown onto one side and Riku and Panchito to the other. Aqua looked down into the huge crack: there was nothing but a vast swirling darkness.

She gasped and looked over at the other side, "Riku!"

"I'll be okay...", Riku yelled back, save yourself. This world is about to be destroyed. You still have people who need your help, Aqua... I'm sure we'll meet again..."

Aqua nodded and with here keyblade shot a small ball of light that opened into a portal similar to the Corridor of Darkness. Before jumping into it, she opened a similar corridor on the other side next to Riku. With one last look at Riku, she jumped into the portal and disappeared before the desert world was destroyed.

-  
Big Apple

Riku was falling through darkness. He could faintly see some light far below him that gradually got bigger and bigger. Eventually he reached the light and suddenly he was hundreds of feet above a huge city. Riku spread open his arms and glided down to slow his decent and landed on top of the Empire State Building. He looked down at the city below and gasped.

"I never saw...a world as huge as this one. Destiny Island suddenly feels smaller than I remember..."

Just then he heard a loud crowing from high above. Panchito was holding his sarape above his head which was ballooned out like a parachute and yelling out with delight.

He landed next to Riku, "Mi amigo, that was the most fun I've had all day! I insist we should do that once more!"

Riku wasn't really listening because something had caught his eye. A little girl was walking far below, carrying an orange kitten. The kitten was wearing a collar that was sparkling with a distinct light. Riku drew his keyblade and a beam of light shot from it, touched the kitten and gently lifted it from the girls arms. A large black keyhole appeared over the kitten and then vanished in a burst of light. The kitten gently fell back into the arms of the girl, who looked very shocked. Riku's keyblade vanished and he looked back up at the buildings.

Panchito looked surprised, "Senior Riku, what just happened?"

Riku shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno. But that was this world's gate and now a new path is open."

"A path? To where?", Panchito asked, looking confused.

Riku shook his head, "I don't know that either. But we're not going to find out if we stay here. We need...to talk with the King."


	4. Sin vs Cid

Chapter 3

Gummi Ship

Sora, Donald, and Goofy had been flying for a while now. It had been a few hours since they left the Big Apple. Just then they saw a keyhole about ten times the size of the ship appear out of nowhere and in front of them. All three of them gasped.

"A gate!", Donald and Goofy yelled out in unison.

"Where did it come from? We never opened any keyholes.", Sora looked confused.

"Well, somebody musta opened it.", said Goofy, "I say we fly into it and see what's there!"

They flew though the gate and right away found several Heartless ships. Right away, Sora grabbed the guns controls.

"Yeah! I haven't done this for a while!", his eyes gleamed.

"Sora, this isn't a game you know!", Donald jumped up, clearly disappointed with him.

Sora smiled weakly, "Lighten up, Donald. I'm just having fun."

The Gummi Ship weaved left and right, dodging the ships and blasting a handful of them out of the black endless sky. Things seemed to be going smoothly until a huge grey fish-like monster slowly approached the ship. Sora, looking overconfident blasted all the cannons at the monster. The monster then shot a large powerful beam that rocked the ship as it hit. Everyone flew from their chairs and hit the floor of the cockpit. Donald was clinging to Goofy and they were both shaking.

"Garwsh", said Goofy, "W-what is that?"

"Sora!", screamed Donald, "Why'd you go and shoot that big balooka!"

Sora glanced back at them, "I d-didn't think it would be that powerful..."

The creature was preparing to shoot another beam at them. Sora, Donald, and Goofy all winced, awaiting the next blow. It never came however; another beam clashed with the monsters and they both canceled eachother out in a huge explosion. They all looked up and suddenly a familiar voice could be heard over the ship's radio.

"Yeeehaw! Here we go! Hold onto your asses, boys!"

An enormous airship, at least a hundred times bigger than the Gummi Ship, came into view. A large opening opened from it and an unseen force began pulling the Gummi Ship in. Once the entire ship was inside, the opening closed and the owner of the voice walked over to the Gummi Ship: it was Cid Highwind.

"Cid!", the three yelled out, very relieved to see him.

They opened the ship door and ran out towards the airship captain.

"Cid, thanks for saving us.", Sora smiled, "Why are you all the way out here?"

"Save yer questions 'till later, kid."

Cid ran out through a door and Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran after him. They were in the ship's control room and Cid quickly sat down in a chair at the cockpit. The other three looked around in amazement at the interior of the giant ship.

Then Sora ran over to Cid, "What is that thing?"

"I dunno...", said Cid, "Big guy came outta no where and started chasing us."

"It's called Sin..."

The four of them jumped as the owner of another voice joined them in the control room. He was an older man with short black and grey hair, a long red jacket, and rectangular sun glasses.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy smiled and got up, "Auron!"

Cid got up too but wasn't smiling. In fact he looked annoyed, "Who the hell are you, and how'd you get on this ship?"

"My name is not important and I got on in Traverse Town.", said Auron sternly, "That monster is Sin and it is indestructible by common means. They say that Sin is mankind's punishment for all the evil and darkness in their hearts."

"Kinda like a Heartless?", Goofy asked.

"Almost", said Auron, "But not quite..."

Cid looked annoyed, "So what in the name of Jenova do we do?"

"What else?", asked Sora, "Fend the thing off!"

Sora ran out the door and Goofy, reluctantly followed by Donald, went after him. Cid watched them go, wide eyed.

"The hell! You dumbasses are gonna be killed!"

Auron put his hand in front of Cid, "Let them go. Sora's heart is in the right place. He won't die that easily."

Meanwhile Sora had found his way to the deck of the ship. Sin was only yards away from them. Sora drew his keyblade and prepared for battle.

Sin flew forward and attempted to slam it's fin into Sora but he quickly dodged the fin and got several hits from his keyblade on it. Sin pulled back a few yards and began charging it's beam. Sora was soon joined by Goofy and Donald. Goofy hurled his shield at Sin like a chakram and Donald shot several fireballs from his staff. Sora's keyblade burst into flames and he threw it like a flaming boomerang at Sin.

Nothing they did could stop Sin from blasting the beam at them. Just then, Cid's voice could be heard from some kind of intercom.

"HOLD ON!"

The ship suddenly turned to the left, dodging the beam but sending Sora, Donald, and Goofy flying. Suddenly a strong hand grabbed Sora and threw him back onto the middle of the deck. Auron had come to help them and grabbed Donald and Goofy and saved them as well.

Auron removed his glasses and looked at Sin with narrow eyes. For a while it didn't look like Sin was about to attack. After a long several seconds, the monster turned and flew off into the darkness. Sora, Donald, and Goofy smiled with unbelief and ran over to Auron.

"Sin!", said Sora, "It saw you and left."

"How did you do that?", asked Donald.

"Yer sure you ain't some kinda hero, Auron?", smiled Goofy.

Auron shook his head and sighed, "I already told you...I'm no hero..."

He turned around and headed back into the ship. Goofy shrugged and the three followed him inside.

Back in the control room, Cid smiled, "Great work guys. You kicked that monster's ass!"

Sora smiled weakly, "Yeah, we pummeled him a little. But Auron really scared him off."

Cid got up and walked over to Auron, "Guess I owe ya an apology, Mr. Auron. If you can do that monster scaring thing more often, yer welcome to come with us!"

Auron was silent but nodded.

Goofy then spoke up, "By the way, Cid. Where are ya goin'?"

"Yeah, I didn't tell yer yet. Radiant Garden is back!", said Cid smiling, "Whatever ya did, yer sure helped."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at each other.

"Actually Cid", said Sora reluctantly, "we didn't do anything."

"We even saw the gate appearin' as we got to it.", said Goofy.

"I see...", said Cid looking down, "Well...guess that just means some other keyblade wielder beat ya to the punch."

All of a sudden Sora's eyes widened.

"You think Riku's out there too?", he asked enthusiastically.

"He could be.", said Auron.

Just then, the control room door opened and Yuffie came in yawning dressed in pajamas and carrying a stuffed Moogle.

"What's going on guys...?", she then gasped when she saw Sora and hid the plushie behind her back, "Sora!"

Sora smirked, "I didn't know you slept with stuffed animals, Yuffie."

Yuffie glared at him, red in the face, "I do not!"

Tifa came in after her, followed by Leon. Sora looked at them with narrow eyes.

"You were all here the entire time and you left us to deal with Sin alone?", he asked flatly.

"Can't say much for myself but Yuffie was sleeping like a baby and I could hear Squall snoring from the girl's bunk room.", Tifa crossed her arms.

Leon glanced at Tifa with narrow eyes before facing Sora, "Aeris is still sleeping but other than her, the gang's all here."

Sora noticed Tifa looking sadly at the ground and looked concerned.

"What's the matter, Tifa?", he asked.

She sighed, "Cloud hasn't returned since he went to fight Sephiroth in Radiant Garden. We never saw him in Traverse Town so I'm worried he..."

"Don't worry about Cloud. He's the best swordsman ever!", Sora smiled encouragingly.

Donald and Goofy nodded in agreement.

Tifa nodded, "You're right. Cloud is going to be just fine."

The airship was now approaching Radiant Garden. Everyone looked out the large window at the world ahead of them.

Yuffie was jumping up and down hugging her stuffed Moogle, "Yay! I can't wait to see how home is doing!"

Radiant Garden

Cid landed the enormous airship and soon everyone was out and on land. Sora gasped; Radiant Garden was looking more beautiful than ever. It looked even bigger and better than the pictures Tron showed them of the town when it was first built. It even looked like the technology had gotten better: on a few corners of the square, there were large floating screens showing news reporters and people playing an strange underwater soccer-like game.

"Looks like they built us one of them blitzball stadiums.", said Cid, "I ain't never gonna get any sleep with those damn kids playing every night..."

Auron chuckled; something Sora never saw him do.

"Hey!", yelled Goofy, "Auron just laughed!"

Sora smirked, "And I thought you were Mr. Serious."

Auron straightened up and fixed his sunglasses, "I have some business to attend to. Thank you...everyone."

Sora and the others watched him go.

Cid grunted, "Who is he? And why'd he stow away on the Highwind just to get to Radiant Garden anyways?"

"Who knows?", Donald shrugged.

*Sora looked around again.*

"Wow, this place really has become more advanced."

*Cid grunted.*

"Yeah, and I'm already gettin' my ass punished for it..."

"Punishment...that gets me thinking about what Auron said 'bout that monster, Sin.", said Goofy, "Does he have anythin' to do with this?"

"Sin? Our punishment for our technology? Ridiculous..."

*A young man with short blond hair, wearing a white business suit approached them. He was being followed by two men, each wearing black suits and sunglasses. One man was large, tan skinned, and bald while the other was thin and had spiky red hair.*

*Leon, Tifa, and Yuffie looked at the blond man with narrow eyes. Tifa spoke first.*

"Rufus..."

*Rufus crossed his arms.*

"That's President Shinra to you.", he turned to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, "You three. I never seen you three around here; you must be new. I am the president of Shinra, Radiant Garden's power company. All the technology you see, the lights, the monitors, are all the work of Shinra."

"You guys make more than just lights and monitors, Rufus.", Tifa said hatefully. "You make boot camps that train genetically mutated soldiers and hideous reactors that suck the life-force from the planet!"

*Rufus smirked.*

"You are making sound evil and barbaric. SOLDIER is only our defense force and the Mako energy we harvest is our clean bright path to the future. No harm could come from us, least of all Sin. On the contrary, we will use Shinra technology to blow that monster out of the air!"

Sora's eyes lit up, "You can do that? How? That monster is huge!"

Rufus smirked, "That's confidential. You will see it when it happens. Come Rude, Leno..."

Rufus started away and the two men in suits followed him. The red haired man stopped and turned to Sora, "Shinra is unveiling its plan at the company meeting in ten minutes. Feel free to eavesdrop."

He smiled and went after Rufus and Rude. Donald and Goofy looked at him oddly as he disappeared.

"Who does he think he is?", glared Donald, "Freak..."

"I dunno...", thought Goofy, "But the feller seems familiar..."

Sora nodded still looking out in the direction the guy left, "Goofy's right, he does look familiar..."

After a few seconds, Sora gasped and looked up. Cid, Leon, and the others were still with them.

Cid shrugged, "Go ahead and look for keyholes, unlock gates, or whatever the hell ya do. Thanks for helpin' us take care of Sin back there."

Leon nodded, "Yeah, take care, Sora."

Tifa walked up to Sora, "This is for Cloud if you find him."

She hugged Sora and he blushed. After a few seconds he pulled away and straightened up.

"Alright, but I don't think it would be the same coming from me.", he smirked.

Everyone chuckled at this. Sora, Donald, and Goofy waved as they ran off.

"Argh!", groaned Sora,"We don't even know where the Shinra headquarters are..."

"Hmm...", thought Goofy, "Maybe it's in that tall building that says 'Shin-ra."

He pointed to a muti-story building on the side of town that sure enough had a large light-up sign that read 'Shin-ra' in all capital letters. Sora and Donald looked back at Goofy hunched over with narrow eyes.

"Well...it's still not going to be that simple..."

Sora started in the direction of the Shin-ra building. Donald stepped in front of him.

"Sora, why do you wanna go there?", he asked.

"Don't you wanna see how they are going to kill Sin?", he asked, "That thing was huge!"

"We should be searching for Heartless and so far we haven't seen any.", Donald said crossing his arms.

"Well if we haven't seen any, than there probably not causing any trouble. Let's go!", Sora ran ahead.

Goofy looked at Donald before following leaving him no choice but to go to.

Once outside the building, Sora found himself once again lost.

"That guy never said where in the building the meeting was."

Just then, he saw a suspicious looking man enter the building. He was large, dark-skinned, and had a buzz cut. He also wore a vest and camouflage-print pants. He glanced around quickly before running inside.

"That guy looked suspicious.", said Sora.

"Hey!", thought Goofy, "Maybe he's tryin' to watch the meeting like us!"

"Yeah", Sora nodded, "Maybe he knows where it is. Let's follow him!"

They ran into the building and attempted to follow him around. As soon as they got inside, however, they lost him. As they walked into the building, they found they were in a huge round lobby. At the other end of the lobby were elevators. They ran up to them and saw there was a sign that listed the different floors. Finally they found a floor that read "meeting room". They boarded the elevator and rode it to that floor.

When the elevator doors opened, they saw they were in a small room and opposite of the elevator was a closed set of double-doors.

"I bet the meeting is in there.", said Sora, "But we can't use the doors..."

He noticed a pretty large vent in the wall adjacent to the doors. The hatch was open as if somebody had crawled through not too long ago. Sora motioned to Donald and Goofy and they crawled in. In a few seconds going down the vent, Sora found a grate that faced the meeting room from overhead. The room had a rectangular table with several people in seats around it. Rufus sat at the end of the table, staring at everyone.

"Thank you for coming.", he said, "We all know why we are here: to discuss how we are to deal with the monstrosity that threatens Radiant Garden."

A young woman stood up. She had short blond hair and wore a reveling red dress. Her blue eyes and slanted eyebrows gave sort of a mischievous and deceptive look.

"Me and Professor Hojo have devised a perfect plan to get rid of Sin.", she said smirking, "We will hunt for pieces of Huge Materia. After they return, we will load the Huge Materia into a rocket and blast Sin out of the sky with it! Kyahahahaha!"

A black haired man with round glasses, most likely Professor Hojo, adjusted his glasses on his face. Rufus rubbed his chin, pretending to ponder the idea.

"An excellent idea, Miss Scarlet", he responded, "but do we have the technology to do that?"

"Don't worry about that!", the woman he called Miss Scarlet said, " I have already sent out troops to search for the Huge Materia. We've already found one in pitiful little mining village near one of our reactors."

Just then, the sound of a door flying open was heard and the large man Sora, Donald, and Goofy saw before appeared in the room bellow and jumped onto the table. He pointed at Rufus with his right arm, with Sora noticed had a large cannon where his arm should have been.

"You leave Corel alone you f*#%in' piece of s#/t!", he yelled.

"Wow...", whispered Goofy, "He swears more than Cid."

"Is this the most profanity this series has ever seen?", asked Donald.

Rufus sat still and kept his cool, even while the man pointed his gun-arm in his face.

"There is no need for profanity...", he reached over and pressed a button on the edge of his seat. In a few seconds the men he introduced earlier as Leno and Rude ran into the room. Leno looked at the huge guy with wide eyes.

"Um...Hello!", he pulled two metal sticks out of his coat and glared at the man.

Sora felt a kick from behind.

"Donald, Goofy...!", he looked back whispering sharply.

Then he saw a large red-furred dog was pinning down his companions. Sora gasped and leaned against the grate which opened beneath him, sending him falling to the meeting room bellow and landing right on the big guy with the gun-arm. Anger sparked in the huge guys eyes and he was about to throw him off when Leno quickly grabbed Sora and pulled him out of the way.

"Yo! Watch it, Sora.", Leno turned on his sticks which started humming like tasers. He threw one at the large guy like a boomerang and caught it as it came back.

Sora drew his keyblade and they both attacked him. The man shot streams of bullets at them from his gun-arm which they both dodged before continuing to hack away at his health.

"Take this, fools!", he held his gun arm steady as it began charging up. A second later he launched a huge energy ball at them. Sora barely avoided it by dodge rolling. Leno jumped out of the way, joined his two taizers together and formed a square chakram and threw the sparking ring at the man. He fell over and lay on the ground.

"Damn...Turks...", he breathed heavily.

Suddenly two men carrying long guns ran into the room. One had long black hair and a red outfit with a cape and the other had a brown cowboy hat.

"Wallace, we gotta retreat for now!", yelled the man in the cowboy hat running to the large man's side.

The black haired man glared silently at Rufus and then Hojo before running out the door. The red dog from in the vent was in front of the elevator and in seconds, the four of them were getting away.

Once they were gone, Leno looked up, "Is everyone okay?"

Rufus, Miss Scarlet, and Hojo were still there unhurt.

"Who were they?", asked Sora getting up.

"AVALANCHE...", said Rufus, "They are a group of rebels who do not believe in what we do at Shinra."

"C-Corel...", Sora thought, "Is that the village that you sent those troops to?"

"So you were eavesdropping on our little meeting...", Rufus glared at him, "Rude, Leno...take care of him..."

Leno stood in front of Sora.

"No...I will take care of this one myself...", Leno faced downward so his eyes were cast in shadows.

Rufus nodded in approval and Leno grabbed Sora by his collar and tossed him into an open elevator. He followed him, slapping his nightstick against his open palm.

When the elevator door closed, Leno put away his nightstick and leaned back.

"You dope, I told you to watch the meeting. Not bust in and start a fight."

He took off his glasses, revealing his slanted blue eyes and the tattoos on his cheeks.

Sora smirked, "I knew it was you all along, Axel."

"The name's Leno, got it memorized.", said Leno/Axel, "Though Leno's a fake name given to me when I joined the Turks."

"That's...kinda confusing...", said Sora, "Anyways I'm so glad you're alive. What happened?"

"I was reborn...somehow. After I died as a Nobody, I found myself floating in this world of light. Then I saw this Heartless come over to me. It wasn't threatening like other Heartless. It came over slowly as if it was hesitating or surprised to see me."

"So...any Nobodies can be reborn if they meet...their own Heartless? You met your Heartless!"

"Hm...maybe that's it...", thought Lea, "Or maybe they both need to be killed first. Sora...I think...I was in the afterlife...or maybe Kingdom Hearts..."

Both were silent for a moment, taking it all in. Finally the elevator door opened and they went out. Lea lead Sora outside the building. Suddenly his eyes widened slightly.

"Wait right here!", he ran down a street and came back a few seconds later with two teal colored ice cream pops.

Sora smiled, "Seasalt ice-cream..."

Lea handed him a pop before licking his own, "Just like old times. A little treat before you go on your way."

"But...", Sora remembered the man with the gun arm, Wallace, "What about Corel? Are the Shinra going to destroy it looking for that Materia thing? Why'd you join those guys, Lea?"

"That's the reason I joined the Turk branch of the Shinra. I'll make sure nobody gets hurt, got it memorized?", Lea smiled.

Sora nodded, "Good luck, Lea. I'm sure I'll see you again soon."

Sora started away, when he rounded the corner he gasped. The dog they saw before was facing him...and Donald and Goofy were both behind him. Then...

"You are not like the Shinra or the Turks. In fact, you are more like us than we thought...", said the dog in a slight British accent, "I am Nanaki, but you may call me whatever you wish. I can't speak for the humans in my group but I have no quarrel with you."

Sora just blinked, clearly shocked. Nanaki bowed and turned to run away.

"Sorry for sneaking up on you in the vent..."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy watched the large dog run away.

Sora shrugged, "Well that was weird... Come on, you guys. There are other worlds waiting for us!"

All three of them walked away and head for the entrance of the city.


	5. Lifestream and Pixie Dust

Chapter 4

-Radiant Garden-

The trio was heading for the Gummi Ship to leave Radiant Garden when a figure dressed in black robes called out to them from a few yards behind them.

"Had a fun time with your old friends? Bet spending time with them brought back...memories?"

The figure stepped forward and removed his hood. He had a youthful appearance and had straight orange hair.

"It felt nice, didn't it...Sora?"

Sora looked at him and gritted his teeth, "Who are you?"

Donald and Goofy stood defensively.

"He's got a black coat..."

"I wonder if he's with Organization XII..."

The man walked over to Sora, stopped and pretended to examine him closely.

"I wonder... Are your memories really yours...? Are you the you...you think you are?"

Sora glared at him, "Buzz off, creep!"

The man smirked, "It's not nice to call people names when you've just met them. I am Nexus, and I am just like you: a keyblade wielder searching for supreme power..."

"How do you know what I'm like?", asked Sora, "For one thing, I don't give a hoot about 'supreme power', I am a keyblade wielder because I want to protect the people who are important to me!"

Nexus threw his head back and laughed, "People who are important to you?! They don't even know you. Allow me to knock some sense into you!"

Two keyblades appeared in Nexus' hands and he lunged at Sora who pulled out his and blocked right away.

/Notice: Defeat the mysterious foe...

"Man...he could have seriously hurt me just now...", Sora thought, "Why does he have two keyblade?"

Donald pulled out his staff and Goofy, his shield. Goofy shoved into Nexus so he was away from Sora and Donald started charging his magic.

"Firaga!"

The attack blasted Nexus and he bent over, seemly out of breath.

"You can't...fight for yourself...?"

"My friends are my power...", Sora said proudly.

Nexus smirked, "You know how lame that sounds...?"

He jumped back a few feet and held out his arms. A third, hilt-less keyblade materialized in front of him and he grabbed it in his teeth. Sora, Donald, and Goofy went wide-eyed.

"Th-three keyblades?!", they shouted in unison.

Nexus' eyes went shadowy and each of his keyblades began charging with one of the three basic magic elements, fire, thunder, and blizzard. He charged at the three with the two keyblades in his hands pointed straight at them.

"Triple Magic Slash!"

He ran right through them and then sheathed his keyblades. There was a large explosion of fire, ice, and electricity, and the three fell to the ground. Nexus turned around and looked back at them.

"What a pity...", he said sounding disappointed, "And to think this is the up and coming new keyblade master. What a joke..."

He started to walk away when the Kingdom Key flew at him like a boomerang, he dodged it just in time and it flew past him before returning to Sora who was on his knees and slowly getting up. He was bent over and his hair was casting a shadow over his eyes.

"Who are you to come out of nowhere, mock me to my face, and hurt my friends...?"

Sora stood straight up, still bent over. Donald and Goofy's motionless bodies began to dissolve into light and the light flew into Sora causing his body to glow. Suddenly his clothes turned silver and he rose into the air. A second keyblade appeared in his left hand and he was ready to end this.

"This must be Sora's power...duel wielding...", Nexus thought, "but absorbing the power of his comrades? How is that possible...?"

Almost as soon as he finished his thought, Sora appeared behind him and smacked him into the air with his keyblade. Next he appeared high above him and knocked him to the ground. Finally he spun his keyblades rapidly, creating a small tornado and throwing Nexus high into the air.

Sora pointed the ends of his keyblades at Nexus, and dark energy balls started growing from the ends.

Nexus' eyes grew wide, "Ragnorok...double...?"

Both of the balls exploded and launched at Nexus in pieces. In what felt like slow motion, he fell to the ground in too much pain to move. Sora landed gently on the ground before falling to his knees and passing out. His companions Donald and Goofy re-materialized next to him, just as still as he was.

Nexus breathed heavily and after a few seconds he painfully got up, looking at Sora.

"He's still too weak...", he said disappointedly, "I wouldn't call him my 'counterpart' as he is now..."

He drew his keyblade and summoned a corridor of darkness. He stepped inside and looked back at Sora.

"I want you to discover your true power before we meet again..."

-Pixie Hollow-

Aqua and Jose had fallen a great height from the portal and for a while had lay unconscious. They both lay under an enormous tree. Just then, two winged girls dressed in woodland attire noticed the two and flew over to them.

One girl with brown hair held Jose gently, "There three...Faun's got you..."

The other black-haired girl held Aqua to her chest and stroked her hair smiling, "Now now...Silvermist's got you..."

Faun gave Silvermist an odd look and she smiled weakly. Aqua slowly got up and gasped when she saw the girls so close to her.

"Are you alright?", Faun asked.

"I never seen you around.", said Silvermist, "What kind of fairy are you?"

"I'm not...", Aqua looked around and saw everything was huge.

They appeared to be outside in a meadow but everything was gigantic. Then Aqua looked at herself and realized it may have been the other way around. She had on the same attire she came here in but she also had clear glittering fairy wings on her back. Jose looked more or less the same except he didn't have any clothes on and her looked more like...well..a bird. She then realized that her magic was helping her blend in so she could hide the fact that she came from another world.

"I'm not...from around here!", she smiled, "I'm Aqua...and this is my friend Jose."

Jose took Faun's hand and gently, "I am honored to make your aquantence."

Just then, a fairy passed by with a mouse the size of a horse (it was to Aqua at least). She had a short green her blond hair tied back in a bun. Silvermist and Faun smiled when they saw her.

"Hi, Tink!", they called.

Aqua gasped, "Tink? Tinker Bell?"

Tinker Bell stopped when she saw Aqua and her face went red.

"You...", she started to say.

She flew to Aqua, grabbed her hand and pulled her away.

Faun, Silvermist, and Jose looked confused.

"Pardon, señoritas.", Jose smiled at them and flew after them.

Tink pulled Aqua to the other side of the tree and looked at her furiously.

"I remember you. You came to Neverland out of nowhere and disappeared as soon as you came. It was like, what, twenty years or so ago? And now you are here in Pixie Hollow and now the size of a fairy? Who are you anyways?!"

Aqua felt an odd chilling warmth flow through her. It was the most important rule for a keyblade master to never reveal that they were from another world but somehow this fairy had figured it out by seeing her in two different worlds in two different forms. She was about to speak when she heard a familiar sound; the sound of multiple Heartless spawning. She turned and saw several small Heartless lunge towards them.

Tinker Bell gasped, "The Heartless are back?"

Aqua pulled out her keyblade and one-hit-k. a Heartless.

"You know the Heartless?", she asked clearly surprised.

"Yeah...", Tinker Bell barely dodged one, "They first appeared like two years ago and this kid named Sora came and got rid of them... Then they came back and this time a boy named Roxas saved us..."

/ Notice: Tinker Bell joined the party...

Jose was fighting them off with his umbrella now but there were still a little too many. Aqua was getting scratched up and she was breathing heavily. Suddenly golden dust gently fell down on her and in seconds she was completely healed. Confused she looked up and saw Tink, who winked and flew to Jose and threw some pixie dust to him. With Tink keeping them up, they were able to finish off all the Heartless with minor difficulty.

Aqua sheathed her keyblade and looked at Tink, "Thank you, Tinker Bell."

Tinker Bell looked at her with narrow eyes. Aqua sighed.

"I may as well tell you since you pretty much figured it out.", she said, "Those two you mentioned, did they have anything like this?"

Aqua unsheathed her keyblade. Tink's eyes lit up and she nodded.

"Yeah, they look like keys!", she exclaimed.

"Yes...", said Aqua, "I am Aqua, a Keyblade Master, and it is my job to keep the light and the darkness balanced in the world. That means I'm after creatures like the Heartless and the Unversed."

Tink nodded, taking this in, "So what about how you changed your size like that?"

"I need to disguise myself wherever I go so I don't...scare anyone.", Aqua really hoped she would buy this. Keeping the worlds separated was the most important thing.

Tink looked suspicious but nodded, "Okay, I gotcha. I'll keep this 'Keyblade Master' secret away from everyone else..."

She started to fly off and Aqua sighed with relief. Then she turned back around.

"Hey, I have and idea! You need to take care of those Heartless here, right?", she asked, "It'll be easier to look around Pixie Hollow if you pretend to be a fairy here and do some work around the island!"

"Work?", Aqua was unsure about this, "What do I need to do?"

Tinker Bell took her hand and lead her back around the tree. Jose followed.

"We just need to find your 'talent'", she said.

They ran into Faun and Silvermist again, who now looked confused that Tink was smiling.

"Um...hi, Tink.", Silvermist smiled weakly, "Everything okay?"

"Everything's great, Sil.", she said, "This is my old friend, Aqua. She hasn't spoken to me in at least twenty years..."

She shook her head disapprovingly at Aqua, who backed away. Sil and Faun looked at each other and smiled in relief that Tinker Bell wasn't loosing it.

Tink turned back to them, "So Aqua needs help finding a talent. She wants to help us prepare for Spring before heading back to the Mainland."

Sil and Faun gasped, "You LIVE on the Mainland?"

Aqua was unsure of what to say, "Um...yeah. It's great! Anyhow, don't we have a lot of work to do before Spring? And I need to find my 'talent', right?"

She glanced at Tink oddly.

"Your right", said Sil, "Let's get started!"

Over the next few hours, Aqua, Tinker Bell, Faun, Silvermist, and Jose practiced decorating spiderwebs with dewdrops, feeding fireflies, and flying with baby birds. All of this 'practicing to be a fairy' was also reintroducing Aqua to her keyblade magic. Almost none of her rustiness from being stuck in the Realm of Darkness was showing anymore. Finally they came to a field of flowers. A single fairy was gliding over the flowers and creating tiny twisters between her palms that were extracting pollen from the flowers, plant by plant.

Aqua's eyes narrowed, "That can't be the most efficient way to do that. I should help her..."

She drew her keyblade and held it out in front of her.

"Aeroga!"

A larger twister shot from the end of her keyblade and spun around the field, gathering pollen from dozens of flowers at a time. The fairy looked up wide-eyed then glared at Aqua.

"What do you think you're doing?!", she yelled over the wind.

Aqua was surprised by her reaction and cancelled the Aero spell, which also a surprise to her, caused all the pollen to fall to the ground and around the fairy who went into a fit of sneezing. Tink, Faun, and Sil bursted out laughing but Aqua felt embarrassed and guilty, and flew over to her.

"Are you okay?", she asked bending over her, who was now knelling over and her face was red.

The fairy had dark black hair and wore a purple dress. She glared at Aqua and pushed her away.

"Who the heck are you? Are you a klutz or do you think you're some wise girl?"

Aqua was stunned. The other fairies and Jose flew over to them.

"Aqua was only trying to help, Vidia.", Tink said, "Calm down."

"Si, Señorita.", said Jose taking her hand and helping her up, "Allow me to introduce ourselves. I'm Jose Carioca and this is-"

Vidia slapped his wing away and flew up in Aqua's face.

"Listen here, Princess, or whatever you call yourself: I don't know or even care who you are but if you come near me or my work again, you will wish that you never came to Neverland!"

Vidia flew away, kicking dust in Aqua's face as she left. Tink and the other fairies flew to Aqua's side.

"Are you alright?!", asked Tink, "I'm so sorry... Vidia...she doesn't really like anyone."

Aqua looked past Tink. She wasn't concerned with herself more than she was Vidia.

"I'm worried about her...", Aqua said staring out were she had flown off to.

-

-

Vidia was furious. She tore up grass and knocked into flying insects as she flew around aimlessly.

"Who does that blue-haired tramp think she is?!", she yelled to herself, "There I was, busting my wings creating cyclones and she drops a load of pollen on me. If I see that brat again, she is dead!"

Deep down though, Vidia was envious of her powers. For the longest time, she had been the most talented fairy in Pixie Hollow, creating forces of nature.

Suddenly she flew right into a large fairy, at least she thought he was a fairy at first. He was a giant (or small for a fairy: he was a head taller than Vidia at least) fat blact cat who wore what looked like a big leafy nightgown and like all the fairies, had clear glittering wings. He was smiling as he looked down at Vidia.

"Hehehe...", he laughed, "Where you think you are off to in such a hurry?"

"Get away from me, you creep...", Vidia flew past him.

The cat spun around to face her, "Now now, Ol' Pete knows ya was having trouble with that brat with that strange key... Bet you could wipe the floor with that runt if you had those powers."

Vidia gritted her teeth, "What do you know about me or her powers?"

"Oh, not so much about you...", Pete laughed, "But I know a thing or two about about the key-brats. Like how they ain't from this world."

This caught Vidia's attention and she looked right at him, "She's from the Mainland? No fairies live there!"

"First of all, she ain't no fairy. And second of all there's way more than the 'Mainland' out there. Heck, I ain't even from this world!", Pete said slapping his chest.

"Since ya seem so keen on gettin' more powerful and hearin' about these other worlds, how about we go see Lady Maleficent? She the most powerful fairy in the universe!"

Vidia didn't say anything and hesitated before nodding. Pete snickered before leading her deep into the forest. Deep in the forest stood something out of place; a small (even smaller because it was fairy-sized) building with four walls and a flat roof all built of cement bricks. It had a door that looked as if it belonged in a medieval castle. Mortimer stood at the door dressed extreamly better than Pete; he wore a dark purple elfin-style dress coat along with dress pants and shoes, and of course fairy wings like everyone else.

"Right this way please, Doll.", he said holding the door open. All three went inside to see a room that really looked like it was from a castle. Vidia started to wonder if the 'building' was really just part of a real castle that was somehow transported there.

Just then, a round green light appeared and floated in the center of the room. Everything grew dark and the green light expanded into the silhouette of a tall robed woman. After a second the light faded and Vidia could see every detail of her. She looked fairly young and had pale skin and wore a black and purple robe that covered most of her body and she appeared to have horns on her head underneath her tight hood.

She smiled, "Welcome, child. I am Maleficent, Queen of Darkness. I've heard many things about you child, and how you seek power."

Vidia gasped when she saw her and her eyes widened even more when she spoke.

"Qu-Queen Claron warned us to stay away from the darkness...", she said defensively.

Malephicent laughed, "And she's absolutely right. You should stay away from darkness...if you are to weak to use it. You, child, have a gift. I can sense that in your heart, a small amount of darkness exists. If only in was unlocked, your powers would increase tremendously."

"Darkness exists...in my heart...", Vidia was thinking this over, "If I allow my heart to be filled with darkness...will anything bad happen? To me that is?"

"Of course not!", she laughed, "You will be just like I am. In complete control of yourself and your powers. We have more in common than you think."

Vidia was still silent. Malephicent smirked.

She reached out her hand, "Very well, I will give you a small taste of the darkness and perhaps later, after you see it's power you will come to a decision."

She made a pulling gesture with her hand and a shadowy orb appeared at Vidia's chest. The orb desolved and spread throughout Vidia's body. For a moment, Vidia looked like she was about to faint before she straightened up and regained full consciousness.

Malephicent smirked, "Very good. Perhaps you should test your new powers against that keyblade wielder..."

Vidia nodded and quickly flew out of the castle room. She was unsure about that Malephicent person; in fact, something about her scared her. Still, if she could use this darkness against people like Tinker Bell or Aqua, she was more than willing.

Aqua, Jose, Tink, and the others flew past a field of tall grass. Aqua was wiped out; all that hard work and no sign of the Heartless. She was about to give up hope when she heard screaming. Several garden fairies shot out from the grassy field.

"It's the Sprinting Thistles again! They are going wild!"

"What's a Sprinting Thistle?", Jose asked.

Before anyone could answer, Aqua flew high over the field and looked down to see an entire heard of what looked like giant moving tufts of tall grass. What really caught her eye, however, was their dark coloration and the Heartless insignia in the middle of their bodies.

"I may not be a fairy but those are no ordinary walking plants..."

She flew back down to Tink, Jose, and the others.

"I need to go after those things.", she said decidedly.

"What?!", cryed Sil, "There's not a fairy alive who can tame the Sprinting Thistles!"

"Even if you could. They're way to fast.", said Faun.

Aqua thought, "How about I ride my keyblade glider after them?"

Jose shook his head, "No way, Jose. You need you're keyblade to fight them; you can't attack with it if you're riding it."

Faun was silent and then jumped into the air.

"I've got it!", she cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled into the air,"Oh, Cheeeese!"

All was silent for a few seconds then loud, swift, foot stomps could be heard. A giant gray mouse darted over to the five, looking back and forth as if looking for something.

Faun smiled, "Cheese is the fastest mouse in Pixie Hollow. He'll help you catch up to the Sprinting Thistles!"

Aqua looked at Cheese oddly and pet his large head, "His name is Cheese?"

"Must be.", said Sil, "He comes running every time we yell it."

Aqua carefully mounted Cheese like a horse and nodded. She never rode a horse let alone a giant mouse. It felt odd but she was confident she could fight those giant Heartless like this.

"I'm ready. Jose, Tinker Bell, stay behind while I go after the Heartless."

"No can do, Amiga.", said Jose, "We're in this together!"

Tink shook her head, "Jose, there are three of us and only one Cheese. Aqua, you can do it!"

Aqua smiled, "Thanks, Tinkerbell."

She patted the top of Cheese's head and he darted of before she could even grab on. He really was fast; they were charging through the field milliseconds after Cheese started running. The blades of grass whooshed loudly as they flew past them. Eventually the Sprinting Thistle Heartless came into view and Aqua drew her keyblade. As Cheese overtook each Thistle, Aqua quickly hacked them down. This looked like it would be an easy job.

After a while, however, there seemed to be even more than there were in the first place. Dozens of Sprinting Thistles surrounded Aqua and closed in on her. She was bashed off of Cheese's back and landed hard on the ground. She painfully got up just to dodge a Thistle that was twenty times her size. She remembered she had wings in this world and flew high into the air before she could get trampled and looked around for her mouse-stead. Fortunately Cheese had broke free and darted to the exit.

Aqua sighed with relief and flew above the tall grass. She was about to leave when she saw a fat black cat and a tall skinny rat flying next to a Corridor of Darkness which was spitting out the Sprinting Thistle Heartless. She glared at them and darted over with her keyblade drawn.

"Get these Heartless out of here!", she yelled.

The cat laughed loudly, "Get 'em outta here?! Ha! And why'd we do somethin' like that? Gotta hand it to ya though, you're as assertin' and noble as you've ever been, 'Master' Aqua?"

Aqua gasped, "Wait...you're...Captain Justice? From Disney Town?"

Once again he burst out laughing, "Cap'n Justice?! Bwahaha, oh that's rich! Haven't heard that phony name in 'round twenty years. I'm Pete, and I'm right hand cat of Maleficent, Queen of Dsrkness herself! I'm no Cap'n Justice, or Cap'n Dark. But I guess ya could call me the Captain of Darkness..."

Pete held out his hand and weaves a giant dark energy ball and hurled in into the field of grass. A giant Thistle grew and extended out from the field like a huge whip. Aqua gasped and turned her attention to it. Pete and Mortimer started towards the Corridor.

Before Pete went in himself, he turned his head, "How 'bout you stay and help take out the keyblade master. When you're done then ya can come with us."

Aqua looked confused before she turned around and was shocked to see Vidia flying behind her. Vidia smirked then hit Aqua hard with a wind attack, sending her backwards. Tink and Jose flew towards them an stood next to Aqua.

"Vidia?!", Tink was shocked to see her too, "You're...siding with them? But why? What about Pixie Hollow, and the fairies, and Queen Clarron?"

Vidia laughed, "You think I really care about all of those things? The reason I did this was to get rid of you! After all, Tink, I totally despise you. You are so pathetic yet everyone thinks you're the greatest. In the end, I side with the strongest."

"Vidia, the darkness will consume you if you get too close.", yelled Aqua, "Stay in your own world, with your own people!"

Vidia glared and the giant heartless loomed behind her, "My world? My people? Spare me..."

She sent two mini tornados from both sides and the battle began.

/Notice: Defeat Vidia and Wild Thistle*

The Heartless swung itself at Aqua, Jose, and Tink and they broke up to dodge it. Aqua jumped out of range and cast Firaga, which she confirmed was it's weakness. Jose drew his umbrella and started dealing some close-range attacks. Suddenly they were both hit with powerful wind magic. Vidia was attacking along side the giant Heartless.

"Aeroraga!", she cast a large tornado towards Aqua and Jose that buffeted both of them. Tink flew over them and sprinkled Pixie Dust which healed them.

The Wild Thistle began to shake and pollen flew everywhere. As Aqua was hit with it, she began to loose consciousness. The other two were knocked out too and began descending just as the Heartless whipped out and slashed the three awake. Tink cast Regain on all three and as their health recharged the fight continued.

The Heartless tried using it's sleeping powder attack again but Tink threw some dust with an Esuna ability to counter it. Finally, Jose was able to land some heavy blows and Aqua held her keyblade out, charging a next attack.

"Flame Salvo!", a large ball of fire launched from the end of her keyblade and burned the giant Heartless into ashes; a large crystalline heart rose into the air. With Vidia alone, the real fight began.

"Triple Aeroraga!", Vidia shot three giant tornados at Aqua, Jose, and Tink. They managed to dodge them but with her casting wind magic repeatedly it would be hard to get close enough for a good attack. Aqua had enough concentration for one more, but weaker, Flame Salvo. She concentrated her magic into her keyblade then shot a single small fireball at Vidia. It hit her and granted Aqua an extra second. Next, Aqua's body flashed with light and she threw her keyblade into the air and jumped on it.

"Sky Climber!", she flew forwards Vidia riding on top of her keyblade. Vidia cast wind magic in Aqua's direction but it all seemed to miss. As Aqua collided into Vidia, the final blow was delivered in what felt like slow motion; the fight was over.

Aqua stood over Vidia and her keyblade vanished.

"Vidia... Listen to me, stay in your own world and keep away from the darkness...", Aqua spoke seriously before turning to walk away.  
Suddenly she was hit in the back and knocked over. Vidia, who was standing up and smirking had just thrown a dark energy ball at her.

"Surprised, Pixie? Maleficent gave me dark powers, remember?", she said overconfidently, "Wait, I didn't mention that? I thought it was self explanatory after I joined the darkness and all that."

Tink and Jose flew to Aqua's aid but she got up before they had a chance. Suddenly a Corridor of Darkness opened some distance behind Vidia. Mortimer stepped out.

"Hey Doll, time to skeedadell!", he yelled, "We need to meet Lady Malephicent at Castle Oblivion."

Vidia glared back at Aqua and darted for the Corridor and they both disappeared inside.

"Castle Oblivion...", Aqua thought aloud, "He can't mean-"

She gasped, touched her shoulder armor and her keyblade armor complete with helmet materialized onto her. Next she transformed her keyblade into her keyblade glider and jumped on.

Jose flew over to her, "Señorita Aqua, where are you going?!"

She didn't seem to hear him as she started the engine and blasted off into the Corridor just as it disappeared.

/Notice: Jose and Tinker Bell left the party...

End of Chapter 4...


	6. Not Sora!

-Chapter 5-

-Radiant Garden-

Goofy was the first to get up; he was hurting all over. He gasped when he saw his friends down and ran over to them.

"Donald! Sora!", he shook them awake.

Eventually everyone was standing up. Sora was quiet and didn't look at anyone.

"What did he mean...?", he asked quietly, "'Am I the me...I think I am...?'"

Donald looked concerned and Goofy put his hand on Sora's shoulder.

"Sora...", he said, "No matter who ya are. You're still you..."

Everyone was quiet. Finally a little light bulb turned on in Goofy's head.

"I know!", he yelled, "Let's go back to Destiny Island! Sora will feel more like himself if he goes home."

Donald nodded, "And after ya feel better, we can keep lookin' for Heartless."

Sora straightened up and nodded, "Yeah, thanks guys. Sorry for holding us up."

"No need to apologize", laughed Goofy, "What are friends for?"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy boarded the Gummi Ship and headed to Sora's home world.

-

-

A small island came into view. A wooded boardwalk stood were the sand met the blue sea. Beyond the boardwalk were tall tropical trees with wooded houses built in them, all joined together by latters and bridges. A logo appears with an tropical island much like this one in the background.

~Destiny Island~

The three emerged on the beach. Sora looked around for any of his old friends. He didn't want to keep Donald and Goofy waiting so he planned to meet with his friends, chat a little, and head back out. The first people to come to mind were Riku and Kairi but after searching around and in every treehouse on the small island, he was unsuccessful. He sighed, sat down on the boardwalk, and looked out at the ocean. Donald and Goofy stood next to him.

"Guess they're both in town on the mainland.", he said, "If I go there, I'll never be able to leave..."

A ball hit Sora in the back of the head. The thing was heavy and hurt like heck.

Sora rubbed the back of his head and turned around glaring, "What was that for?!"

A young muscular Hawaiian-looking man smiled and caught the ball, "Sora! Long time no see, ya."

Sora looked at him oddly, "Do I...know you?"

Donald nudged Sora, "Isn't he Wakka? One of your friends?"

Sora scratched his head, "Wakka? Why doesn't that name seem familiar?"

Wakka's smile disappeared, "You know, Wakka. Me and you used to play Blitzball together, ya? Man, I gotta stop hitting people in the head with my ball; your brain's messed up now."

"Oh yeah, sorry Wakka. I know you!", he smiled weakly. In truth he didn't remember a thing but he didn't want to hurt Wakka's feelings.

Suddenly a young man appeared behind Sora holding a wooden sword, "There you are...Sora."

He swung his sword at Sora's head and forced him to draw his keyblade and block.

Sora's looked over the guy: he was thin, had short blond hair, and wore shorts and an unbuttoned jacket.

"Um, hi! Good to see you...", again Sora had no idea who he was.

Goofy coughed, "*cough*Titus*cough*"

"Right, Titus.", Sora sweated.

Titus looked at him oddly, "Hey Sora? You okay?"

Sora looked down at the ground. He had no idea. Apparently these two were his friends but he was sure he never met them. Then he heard a snicker that was familiar.

"Just as I thought. Your friends are they?"

Nexus appeared on the sand next to Sora, Donald, Goofy, Wakka, and Titus. He faced Sora and singled him out.

"I wanted you to come to me after you found your true power but that's going to take ages; you don't even know who you are!"

Nexus grabbed Sora by the neck, lifted him up, and threw him about a yard away from the others. Donald and Goofy gasped and ran to Sora only for Nexus to send them flying with an energy ball. A barrier surround Nexus and Sora.

"Keep your hands off of him!", Titus charged at Nexus with his wooden sword.

Fortunately he was in the barrier's radius when it formed. Nexus pulled the sword from his hand, shattered it, and elbowed Titus in the stomach. Titus fell over in pain. Wakka ran into a treehouse, and came back out holding a large blue translucent sword.

"Titus! Catch, ya!", he threw the sword over and into the barrier.

Titus got up, jumped and caught the sword by the hilt before landing in a fighting stance.

/Notice: Donald and Goofy left the party  
/Notice: Titus joined the party  
/Notice: Beat Nexus!

A Corridor opened behind Nexus and black and white humanoid Heartless with long think arms came out. Sora and Titus charged at the Heartless and began beating it. The Heartless spun around and struck Sora and Titus with it's powerful arms and sent them both flying.

They both landed on their feet and ran back to the Heartless, being sure to dodge its spinning attack.

/Reaction: Swordplay

Sora ran around the Heartless, slicing and whacking it with his keyblade eight times before thrusting it into the ground and jumping into the air, using its hilt as leverage.

/Reaction: Blitz Ace

Titus pulled a Blitzball from behind his back and kicked it up to Sora. Sora than kicked the ball right into the Heartless's face. The Heartless vanished and its crystal-looking heart ascended into the air. Sora and Titus then went for Nexus, beating and slashing him with their weapons.

Before the fight was even over, Nexus blasted Titus away with an energy ball and knocked Sora to the ground. He aimed the palm of his hand which was glowing with a bring aura down at Sora. Sora's body felt heavy and he couldn't get up. His keyblade vanished from his hand.

"What...did you do to me...? I can't move...", he suddenly felt out of breath. It was like his strength just left.

Nexus dropped the barriers and turned to Titus, Wakka, Donald, and Goofy, still holding Sora down.

"Let's show your 'friends' who you really are...", Nexus sneered.

Sora's body started changing; his brown hair turned white and his blue eyes turned red. A tattoo of the kanji for the number three seemed to burn itself onto his cheek. Finally he felt enough strength return to him to allow him to get up. He looked down to see that he was wearing a black and blue jumpsuit similar to the one Riku wore when the darkness consumed him. He gasped and glared at Nexus.

"What the hell is this? Who are you?!", he yelled.

Nexus laughed, "You seem to have your own personality. The real Sora would never talk like that. Like I said before, my name is Nexus. If you need to know more, I work for Organization XIII. I am number 14..."

Donald and Goofy's eyes widened, "That's impossible!", yelled Goffy.

"There can't be 14 members in Organization -13-!", said Donald.

Nexus just chuckled, "Believe what you will... Now enough about me. Let's talk about you..."

He circled around the young man who just a minute earlier thought he was Sora.

"Your real name is Nexus Clone Number Three, or NC3 for short. As your name suggests, you are a clone of me. But not a perfect copy; you are my dark counterpart..."

"Dark counterpart?", said NC3 confused, "But I fight with the light."

Nexus shook his head, "When are you going to figure it out? You are not Sora! Sora was just a guise and your head is filled with fake memories. Take a look."

A dark aura surrounded NC3. It was darkness flowing from him. Everyone else gasped. Donald and Goofy ran over to the boy they though was their friend.

"So you fight for the darkness?", Donald glared, "You betrayed us!"

"Donald!", said Goofy, "Sora, I mean, Nectar Cologne 3, I mean-um, you know had no idea what was happenin'. And you know what? I think that guy's the real bad guy here!"

"Foolish creatures of light...you have no idea who the real enemy is..."

Nexus summoned a Corridor of Darkness underneath NC3, Donald, and Goofy and they slowly felt themselves being pulled down.

NC3 spoke quietly, "I'm sorry everyone. I made you all think I was your friend. Wakka, Titus...Donald, Goofy... I hope your real friend is okay..."

The Corridor disappeared and they were gone. Titus bared his teeth and Wakka had to hold him back.

"I don't care who either of you are! Why did you do that to him? You bastard!"

"Relax...", Nexus didn't face him, "There is no point in killing him. As for you..."

Nexus drew his keyblade and started toward Wakka and Titus. Just then, a dark fire ball hit Nexus in the shoulder and he stumbled. Riku was standing on the beach.

"Leave them...", he walked over to them and opened a Dark Corridor, "Titus, Wakka, get inside. There are people over there that will keep you safe."

They both nodded and headed inside.

"Okay, Riku", said Wakka, "We trust you, ya."

The Corridor of Darkness closed and Riku glared at Nexus drawing his

"You can do whatever you want with that little clone of yours but stay away from my island..."

NC3 found himself in a grassy field next to a tall red Japanese-style building along with Donald and Goofy but said nothing. Donald was avoiding him to and crossed his arms. Goofy spoke up.

"Donald, it's not Sor-I mean, Nex-I mean NC3's fault.", he said, "That Nexus guy tricked all of us. If anything, NC's the real victim."

Donald didn't say anything and neither did NC3. Just then, they all smelled something delicious. The scent hit Goofy's nose and he floated off the ground and toward the smell. Donald smiled and followed. The three walked into a Japanese-style town with stalls and outdoor eating areas. NC3 looked around and saw the place was totally deserted; he didn't like it.

"Guys, I think we shouldn't be here..."

Donald and Goofy ran over to the source of the smell: a stall serving roasted pig, seafood, rice, and a large variety of other foods.

"Oh boy, oh boy!", cried Donald helping himself.

"Gawrsh, you gotta try this stuff, NC!"

NC3 shook his head, "This could be a trap. Or you guys are going to get us kicked out."

They kept eating and NC sighed. He turned around and walked away down the street. A little ways down he saw a large building that looked like an Asian hotel. There was a bridge leading to it and he started to cross. Just then he sensed someone behind him. A young man with short black hair wearing light blue robes glared at him seriously.

"Who are you? You don't belong here!", he said.

Suddenly the sky grew dark and lanterns along the streets started to glow.

The man clenched his teeth, "They're coming; They know you're here. Run, I'll distract them..."

NC looked at him oddly but the young man pushed him away from the bridge. He shrugged and ran back to where he left Goofy and Donald.

When he got there though, Donald and Goofy were gone and two pigs wearing their clothes were in their place. NC looked at them wide eyed.

"Donald? Goofy? What happened to you two?", he cried.

A large shadowy spirit came out from within the food stall and started whipping the two defenseless pigs with a large fly swatter. NC glared.

"Keep your hands off them!", he yelled.

He tried to summon his keyblade but it wouldn't come. He tried a few more times before he noticed the spirits were taking Donald and Goofy away.

NC gritted his teeth, "I'm coming back for you guys. Hold on!"

He wasn't sure what he was looking for. He ran down the streets of the small Asian town. Everywhere shadowy shapeless spirits came out of doors. As he approached a shore he saw a river boat full of spirits wearing colorful robes and masks. Still defenseless he hid behind a small house near the shore. He was out of breath and felt like his energy was being drained. He crouched down to catch his breath then looked at his hands and gasped.

"What the hell?!", he exclaimed, "I'm...see-through?"

Indeed he was growing more and more transparent; like a ghost. Just then, the man from before walked over to NC from behind. He pulled a small bean from his pocket and handed it to him.

"Here, eat this. Humans need to eat in this world or they'll disappear..."

NC looked at the bean suspiciously.

"Don't worry, it wont turn you into a pig.", he said sarcastically.

NC put the bean in his mouth and ate it. Gradually his energy returned to him and his body became opaque again. He got up and looked at the guy.

"You seem to know a lot about this world. Where are my friends?", he asked, "They ate that food back there and turned into pigs."

"That's what happens to people who steal food in this world. You can't see them now but you will."

NC sighed, "You better not be referring to breakfast..."

Just then, the boy looked up. A strange giant bird was flying high overhead.

"Yubaba...", he said flatly.

He then grabbed NC's hand and walked back into the city, pulling him along.

"Hey, let go!", NC yelled, "What the hell are you doing?"

The boy ran to the building he had met him in front of and brought him to the side where nobody could see them.

"Okay, listen. There is a way to save your friends.", he said quietly, "Talk to Yubaba; she's the witch who owns this bath-house."

"A bath-house?", NC looked at him with raised eyebrows, "The witch owns a giant bath-house in the middle of a city of ghosts?"

"We are not ghosts; we are spirits.", he said with narrow eyes, "Gods if you will. And Yubaba is very powerful. She's the one who's power turned your friends into pigs..."

NC's eyes widened and he nodded, "Okay, I got you."

"Good, now...", the boy placed him palm on NC's head and NC started seeing visions, "You need to ask Yubaba to give you a job. It will be tough work but after a while you'll be able to leave with your friends. Take the outside stairs to the very bottom of the house. There you will meet Kamaji, the boiler man. Tell him you wish to speak to Yubaba."

He took his hand off and NC's vision returned to normal, "That's a lot to take in. Okay, thanks...um..."

NC realized he never learned the boy's name. Just then a giant frog ran over to them.

"Master Haku, there you are!", he yelled, "Yubaba wants to see you."

The boy who's name was apparently Haku sighed, "I know...it's about my 'mission', right?"

He walked away with the frog without looking at NC. NC, not sure what to say found the top of the stairs and began to descend. The wooden staircase was long; really long. And didn't even have a railing. NC could look down the stairs and see train tracks about a hundred feet below. Just then a step beneath him snapped and broke and he got off just in time. Swallowing he quickly climbed down the rest of the steps.

Once down, he saw a door on the side of the building. He opened it and went inside. It was very warm inside and there were pipes running up the ceilings and the walls. Down a hall, was a wide square pit the size of the room facing a huge boiler. On the other side of the pit, a large bald old mustached man sat at a podium. He wore a black long sleeved suit and round sunglasses. The oddest thing of all about him was that he seemed to have multiple long arms. All of them were turning large cranks, pulling tickets down from the ceiling, or grabbing various herbs from wall-long cabinets.

NC coughed and spoke up hesitantly, "Hey, you must be Kamaji. I was told by someone to ask you about a job."

The old man's eyebrows slanted and he faced NC, "Go away! I don't need any help here."

With one hand he motioned to the pit; NC didn't see them coming in but countless small round black creatures with huge eyes were scurrying around and picking up bricks of coal to throw into a large furnace heating the giant boiler.

"This boiler room is full of soot", he said, "I just cast a spell and I have all the workers I need. There's no room for you. Be gone!"

NC sighed and started to leave. At his feet a single soot sprite was trying to lift a large lump off coal. It succeeded but the weight of the coal was too much and smashed the little sprite. NC winced, then bent over and picked up the lump of coal. A small black smudge was where the soot sprite used to be. Just then the sprite puffed back up and ran into a mouse-sized hole in the wall.

NC looked at the lump of coal in his hand and shrugged. He looked at the furnace on the other side of the room and threw the coal into it. All the other soot sprites stared at NC wide eyed and then in unison...the dropped the lumps of coal they were carrying on their heads and squeaked helplessly. NC sighed and Kamaji glared at them all.

"Get back to work you useless balls of soot!", he then turned to NC, "Don't go around stealing other people's work! If they stop working the spell wears off and they turn back into soot."

Just then, a sliding door in the wall opened and a young woman walked into the room. She had long black hair, wore a kimono, and was carrying a basket full of what seemed to be round pieces of multicolored candies.

She grounded, "Are you fighting again, Kamaji?"

She began tossing the candies at the soot sprites who gathered around squeaking happily.

"This boy is looking for a job...", said Kamaji, still working, "Can you take him to see Yubaba? He's a tough boy, I think he can handle it."

The woman's eyes widened then she glared at Kamaji, dumping the basket.

"No way!", she said, "I'm not risking my neck."

Kamaji handed her what appeared to be a charred lizard, "I'll give you this, Rin."

Rin looked at it suspiciously before snatching it, "Gimme that! Come on, little boy; Let's go..."

NC got out of the pit and walked up to her, "Excuse me?!"

She didn't look at him as she walked out through the door she came in.

"And thank the boiler man, you dope.", she called back, "He's really risking his neck for you..."

NC sighed. He was really starting to like this girl.

"Yeah, thanks, Mr. Boilerman!"

-

Rin brought NC up an employee elevator and onto a floor overlooking dozens of public bath areas. All sorts of multicolored ogres and creatures were relaxing in round bathtubs and indoor hot-springs. He could even see a family of large rounds ducks cramming into a small tub looking like rubber bath toys.

Finally they came to another elevator and NC rode it alone to the top floor. When he reached the top and the doors opened he found himself facing a long narrow hallway. What's more, the hallway broke into two other hallways on each side every ten feet.

"How am I going to find Yubaba's office?", he sighed, "This is like a maze..."

After walking for a few seconds and turning corners he heard an echoing voice. It sounded like an old woman's.

"Come in..."

His eyes widened and he looked around quickly.

"I said...COME IN!"

An invisible hand grabbed his collar and pulled him swiftly down the hall. He zoomed around corners and finally crashed through a pair of double doors and into a warm office. He fell to the floor on a large dark red carpet. Three green disembodied, bald, and mustached heads rolled over to NC and bounced around him.

NC looked up and saw the old lady. She was huge; a little taller than NC but had the proportions of a midget. She eyed him, smirking slightly.

"So what I heard was true... Three outsiders found their ways into the city of kami...", she spoke calmly, "Your two little friends were caught stealing food laid out for the gods, and they got what they deserved."

NC swallowed. He didn't like this lady. He decided to speak up.

"Please...can you give me a job here?", he asked hesitantly.

Yubaba quickly got up and walked up to him, "Why would I hire a selfish brat like you?! Do you think I give jobs to every lousy punk who walks in here?!

She vanished and NC stood up defensively wondering where she went. She then appeared right behind him and gripped his neck, digging her fingers into his skin. He winced in pain. He felt completely helpless and now he couldn't even summon his keyblade.

Yubaba whispered into his ear, "Or...maybe I'll give you the toughest job I have, and work you down to your very last breath..."

She vanished again and appeared next to her desk. She then grabbed a paper and tossed it to NC along with a pen.

"Sign here...", she said ominously.

NC quickly regained his senses and leaned the paper against the floor. He just finished scribbling his name before an invisible force snatched the paper from him. It feel into Yubaba's hands and she looked it over.

"So your name's Nexus Clone the 3rd?", she sneered, "What a pathetic name. Let me relieve you off it..."

She held her hand over his hand writing and as if by magic, the letters peeled off the paper and ascended into her palm.

"From now on your name is Xen", she said. She pronounced it as 'Zine'.

Just then someone else entered the room. It was Haku, the boy from before.

"You called me?", he asked emotionlessly.

"Yes...", said Yubaba, "Take the boy to the sales floor and get him to work."

"Yes, ma'am.", he replied, "His name?"

NC looked up, "It's Ne-I mean...Xen."

Haku nodded, "Come Xen..."

He lead him back to the elevator and down to the first floor. From there they headed to an 'employees only' room. As they entered Xen saw a group of women and oversized frogs glaring at a little girl.

"Who is she?", he asked, "And why are they-"

"Don't talk to me.", Haku said seriously, "And you will refer to me as 'Master Haku'..."

Xen looked at him oddly, "What's gotten into you...?"

They noticed the woman from before, Rin, walk over to the girl. Haku faced her.

"Rin, take Xen with you too.", he comanded.

Rin looked indigent, "Why are you always making me do the baby sitting? You owe me big, Haku!"

She grabbed both Xen and the little girl's hands and pulled them out of the room. They went to a dressing room and Rin looked through some drawers for a uniform for Xen. She finally pulled something out and handed it to Xen before turning to the little girl.

"Sen, go to the woman's changing room next door.", she said, "I'll be right there."

The girl, Sen, nodded and ran out the door. Rin dug out from a drawer another article of clothing that must have been the pants. Xen spoke up.

"Rin...?", he asked, "That little girl, Sen. Who is she? Why were the other workers treating her like that?"

Rin sighed, "Because she's a human... She's like you; her parents stole from the spirits and now Sen's working for Yubaba in hopes she can save them."

Xen's eyes widened, "Y-you know about my friends? Where are they?"

Rin grabbed his shoulders, "I don't know where they are. Only Yubaba does. All the spirits know about them and Sen's parents."

Xen sighed and looked down. Rin handed him the clothes and started to leave the room.

"It's too late to start work now; the bathhouse is closing. Get changed and meet me and Sen outside. We'll go and get some dinner."

She left and Xen started to get changed. His outfit was a light blue kimono identical to Haku's.

"At least I'm not in that ugly Heartless suit anymore...", he thought.

He later joined Rin and Sen for dinner; it was plain rice with a little chicken. It was still okay...and edible. Xen started thinking about Haku again. Why was he being such a jerk in the elevator? As if Sen could read his mind she looked up at Rin.

"Rin?", she asked, "There aren't two Haku's are there?"

Rin looked at her as if she just said something insane.

"Two Haku's?! I can barely stand one."

The next morning while Xen was sleeping on the floor, Haku quietly came into the room and bent over him.

"Come to the bridge in an hour... I'll show you where your friends are..."

Before Xen could sit up, Haku was gone. Xen got up and went outside. Haku wasn't going to be there for and hour but Xen couldn't wait.

He did wait though, for at least half and hour. Suddenly his stomach rumbled.

"Damn...", he thought aloud, "I didn't grab anything to eat before I left. And that rice last night was hardly anything..."

A tall thin ghost appeared in front of Xen all of a sudden. He was mostly black and had a round white mask over his face. Xen fell over shocked.

"What the hell?!", he starred wide-eyed, "What-who are you? Look I'm sorry about the food; me and my friends had a fight and then they were just being pigs-I mean before you guys turned them into pigs!"

The ghost just floated there, facing him with it's emotionless mask with round empty eyes. Suddenly Xen's stomach groaned again. The ghost made a light grunting sound and pointed at Xen's chest. Xen looked down and shook his head.

"N-no, I'm okay, really. Just waiting to meet someone."

The ghost floated across the bridge and into the city. Xen sighed with partial relief. Just then, the ghost floated back this time carrying something.

Xen started panicking again, "No really, I'm just waiting for a friend. I'll go back inside and get to work in a minute!"

The ghost flew very close to Xen holding what appeared to be a round wooden box. It slowly opened the lid of the box to reveal...four round white steaming meat buns. Xen's eyes widened and his tension loosened as he looked at them. He then slowly looked up into the ghost's eyes...or mask.

"I-I can have one?", he guessed hesitantly.

The ghost only nodded and grunted lightly. Xen carefully reached in a took one. It was very hot as if it had just came off of the steamer but Xen was too hungry.

He bit it and was instantly filled with warmth. It was the best thing he had eaten in...well, he couldn't remember. Since all his memories were fake, for all he knew he was 'created' yesterday and hadn't eaten for his entire short life.

He finished the meat bun and the ghost nudged the box closer and grunted again. Xen shook his head.

"No thanks", he said, "That one was great. Thank you!"

The ghost sighed sadly and began to fade. As it did, the box of meat buns started to fall. Xen caught the bow and looked around.

"Where did he go...?", he asked nobody in particular.

"I'm right here..."

The voice belonged to Haku and he was standing on the other side of the bridge. Sen was with him. Xen smiled and walked across the bridge towards them.

"Hey guys!", he held out the box, "Want one?"

"Where did you get these...?", Haku took one, looked at it and bit it, "Hmm... pork buns..."

Xen's eyes widened, "Pork?! Oh my gosh; Donald and Goofy!"

Haku laughed; a real genuine laugh, "Yubaba wouldn't let prisoners be cooked."

He handed one to Sen who started eating it. Xen sighed with relief.

Haku lead Sen and Xen to a barn a little ways away from the bathhouse. Inside were pigs in every wooden stall. Xen though of how many greedy yet unfortunate people were being held in this barn.

Sen and Haku looked into one stall. Apparently her parents were in there, though right now they just looked like ordinary pigs.

Next Haku brought Xen to a pen where a small white pig wearing a sailor hat and a fat black pig wearing a tall green hat were sleeping.

"Remember them well...", said Haku.

Xen's eyes narrowed, "Like I'll ever forget those two..."

As soon as Xen got back he went right to work. He mopped many floors and and cleaned many bathtubs. Just as he was washing one huge tub Rin called to him.

"Xen! There's a guest who needs the big tub right away!"

Xen looked up and saw what looked like a huge pile of black tar looming over her and moving his way.

"Are you kidding me?!"

/Notice: Wash the slime spirit!

Xen rolled out of the way as the large spirit climbed into the round tub. He ran over to the wall to avoid getting knocked aside.

/ Reaction: Open

Xen pounded the wall and a large wooden pipe fell out over the tup. A rope hung from the end of the pipe. He jumped for it.

/ Reaction: Pull

Xen grabbed the rope and hung from it. There was a loud clunking sound and then tons of hot water poured onto the spirit. But it was still not over. Xen noticed a thick pole stuck in the spirit's side. He ran to it, and with all his strength, pulled it out. The muck exploded everywhere and Xen started to fall just as a large aqueous hand grabbed him and steadied him.

He found himself face to face with what looked like a giant sea serpent wearing a brown wooden mask. The spirit spoke in a deep voice.

"Well done..."

The spirit dropped something into Xen's hands before rising up and flying away. Xen looked down at his hands and saw a green orb.

/ Notice: Obtained Totoro summon. Call forth Totoro, the guardian of the forest.

-

Meanwhile, Sen was dumping a bucket of water outside when she saw the spirit with the white mask. It was raining outside and the spirit looked cold and alone. She held the backdoor open for him and silently he went inside.

Xen, Haku, and Sen eventually met up for dinner. The whole time Sen kept looking at Haku from the corner of her eye.

Haku glanced back, "Is something the matter...Sen?"

She quickly looked away, "I know why you act mean sometimes... Yubaba is controlling you; she took your real name just like mine..."

Xen looked at her oddly, "She controls us by taking away our names?"

Haku nodded, "So you figured it out."

"But I just realized something else. Haku, when I was really little I fell into a river and almost drowned. I was rescued by someone. I didn't see who though.", she spoke quietly, "The name of the river was the Kohakunushi river. I think that it was you!"

Suddenly Haku's eyes widened and and a white aura surrounded him.

"You did it...Chihiro.", he smiled at her, "I remember everything now. My real name is Nigiyahami Kohakunushi. I remember you falling into my river and dropping your little shoe."

Sen, or Chihiro smiled and hugged him, "I knew you were good!"

Xen needed a second to take this all in. Suddenly there was a loud crash inside followed by screaming. Xen, Chihiro, and Kohaku ran inside to see Rin running toward them.

"Sen!", she grabbed her hands, "There is a large monster in the bathhouse and he's demanding to see you! Did you let and strangers in here?"

Chihiro gasped, "That ghost with the mask... But it was raining and..."

"That ghost was a monster named No-Face! Now he's eating all of our food -and- the staff!", Rin looked furious and panicked at the same time.

Xen walked past Rin, "Chihiro was looking out for the well being of the spirits. Don't pin the blame on her."

Kohaku looked at him, "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to have a look at this 'monster'...", Xen ran unarmed towards the direction Rin came from and Kohaku ran after him.

/ Notice: Kohakunushi joined the party. Kohakunushi learned a new ability: Kohaku River Spirit.

When Xen got there he gasped. It was the ghost from before but huge and fat. And he appeared to have frog legs. No-Face looked at Xen. Just then, a corridor of darkness appeared and Nexus walked out.

"Hello...Xen.", he smirked, "Nice new name you chose. Are you trying to be me now?"

He summoned a handful of smoke that form the letters 'N-E-X-U-S' then a few vanished leaving 'N-E-X'...'Xen'...

Xen gritted his teeth, "I am not you. Nor am I a tool of the darkness!"

Nexus smiled, "You are me...Or part of me... And in the end, darkness is your only weapon."

Before he left he threw a small frog-like Heartless at No-Face who swallowed it. In seconds, No-Face started growing bigger and a red Heartless insignia appeared on his large round chest.

/ Notice: Defeat No-Face's Heartless...

No-Face roared and charge at Xen who rolled out of the way. With no keyblade, Xen really was defenseless. Suddenly Xen held still and winced as a powerful force started to build in his heart. A keyblade appeared in his left hand. It was black and it's teeth vaguely resembled a sun.

"The Darkness Sun...", Xen thought.

He charged at the corrupted spirit and began bombarding it with his new weapon. No-Face reacted by spewing corrosive sludge at him. Kohaku drew a spell card and cast shields around them.

Kohaku used his newfound ability to transform into a white dragon with light green scales. He flew around No-Face and whipped him from every direction.

/ Reaction: Take a Ride

Xen jumped onto Kohaku's back and and pummeled No-Face with his keyblade as they flew by.

/ Reaction: Medicine Time

Xen jumped down from Kohaku and threw around pill into No-Face's mouth. The transformed ghost coughed and spewed sludge as he ran out of control. Finally Xen delivered the final blow and the Heartless was down.

With the Heartless gone, No-Face began to shrink to normal. He coughed up the staff members and was his harmless self in no time. Everyone cheered and were chanting Xen and Haku's names. Then Yubaba herself came downstairs.

"Xen, Haku! What is going on down here?", she yelled.

A costumer ran over to them, "Xen and Haku saved us! If it wasn't for them, the monster would have eaten us all!"

Yubaba looked shocked then looked down, her eyes narrowed, "You have saved our staff and our customers. I guess we owe you a reward..."

Kohaku looked at her seriously, "Release Xen and his friends, and Chihiro and her parents."

Yubaba stared at him wide-eyed, "Haku? How dare you-?"

"My name is Kohakunushi. I'm just asking you release the mortals. I though you hated the smell of them anyways."

Yubaba sneered, "Fine. Release the prisoners... But you are still mine, Kohakunushi."

"Fare enough...", he bowed.

Outside, Donald and Goofy were back to their old selves and reunited with Xen.

Xen looked around, "Hey, where's Chihiro?"

"She already left and has been reunited with her parents.", Kohaku appeared from nowhere.

"Haku?", asked Goofy, "Are ya really be okay here with Yubaba?"

"Of course.", he said reassuring, "I remembered who I am. As long as I know that, Yubaba cannot control me. Thanks for protecting us, Xen. It's all thanks to that weapon of yours."

Xen looked at his new keyblade and sighed, "I was reluctant to use it. It was our only protection at the time...but I can't let the darkness consume me."

Kohaku placed a hand on Xen's shoulder, "Never forget who you are, and you won't loose control."

Xen smirked, "Guess the darkness is just an old lady in the end."

They all shared a quick laugh before parting ways. As they walked, Donald looked up at Xen.

"Hey!", he asked, "Why'd that Haku guy call you 'Xen'? I thought Yubaba gave you that name?"

Xen thought for a moment. He really had no name to begin with.

"I am...a part of Nexus. I've accepted this...", he said, "But I'm everything he is not."

He remembered when Nexus was messing around with the letters in his name.

"Xen...", he thought, "Xen...us. I am Xenus. The other side of Nexus."

Then he thought about Donald and Goofy, Wakka and Titus, and Kohaku and Chihiro.

"I can't let him hurt other people while he's looking for me. If it's a fight with me he wants, he'll get one."

"We'll go with ya!", said Goofy, "What else are friends for?"

"No...", said Xenus without looking at him, "I'm not Sora and I'm not a fan of that 'all for one' stuff... This is between me and Nexus. I can't protect anyone whole my own ship is being sunk..."

Doable looked at Goofy who nodded back, "We understand. But we're still gonna help you on the way."

"Okay, thank you...", Xenus looked up at the red building from where they came and started off

-

End of Chapter 5...

Coming up next: Xenus, Donald, and Goofy meet up with an old friend who takes them to Master Yen Sid's tower telling them to stay away from Nexus. While waiting for Yen Sid's news, Xenus along with King Mickey are thrown into a fabricated world, Disney Wasteland. Will they escape in time to attend Yen Sid's meeting?

But first, Aqua follows Maleficent, Pete, and Mortimer's trail to her former home, Castle Oblivion, and finds shocking news about our hero's arch-rival, Nexus.

Thank you for reading chapter 5 of Kingdom Hearts 2 1/2: The Link of Light and Darkness.


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